For the love of Her
by katanna tagurasha
Summary: This is the Inuyasha version of a short story I read called,For the love of Him in a book called,Being Dead by Vivian Vande Velde! I'm not plagerizing because I showed that I don't have complete credit! This is an alternate universe! Please R&R!


_A/N: Hi! I was reading this book called, "Being Dead", and I was wondering what the Inuyasha version would be like so I wrote this! _

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, Kagome, Kikyou, or Kaedae! I also pretty much don't own this story! I only modified it so you can't sue me! This isn't plagerism because I put who owns them! See!

Inuyasha Characters are owned by Rumiko Takahashi

The book, "Being Dead", is owned by Vivian Vande Velde

You can't sue me now! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

I do own the othere fanfics i've written though! Check them out if you want!

**For the love of her**

'It's no good tying to outrun the rain', Kagome realized, as the raindrops pelting the leaves at the tops of the trees, became hard enough to be audible. She was now soaked and was not running, for the roads in the old section of the cemetery could be very slippery. She had had to stay after school because she had been caught passing a note to Eri during class so she had after school detention so now she was caught in the pouring rain, in a cemetery, surrounded by gravestones, trying to get home.

She almost missed seeing the boy standing by a grave not far from the road. When there was a bright flash of lightning and a loud crash of thunder that caused her to jerk her head up. For a moment, she thought she was seeing mist, produced by combining a hot spring day and cold rain.

As soon as she saw the boy wearing the strange red outfit, she turned away, not wanting to intrude on someone's privacy, even if they didn't know she was there.

But then she looked again.

The boy just stood there, as though he was oblivious to the pouring rain pounding all around him. He stood there with a pained expression on his face. She wasn't sure if it was raindrops or tears rolling down his face. He wore an ancient red haroi and hakama. His feet lay bare although the rain must make them cold and his long silver hair reaching to his waist was plastered to his body, but she also thought she saw two white triangles on his head that looked strangely like dog ears.

It was strange that anyone should be so pained in this old part of the cemetery. Most of these graves dated back to the 1500's.

Why would someone feel so pained for someone almost 500 years dead?

She could see him shaking ever so slightly from the cold. 'He must be freezing', Kagome thought, 'he shouldn't be out here in the pouring rain.' She shook her head. 'Well, I'm out her too.'

She looked back at the boy. But he wasn't there anymore. 'Where'd he go?', she thought, 'You'd think he'd go on the road on a day like this rather than on the old forest trail. But maybe he was embarrassed at being caught at….. whatever.

Kagome stepped on to the wet grass. "Hello?" she called out over the roaring of the thunder. The pouring rain made it hard to see very far at all. She thought she saw a figure beyond the tree line, but that seemed to be a pale girl with long black hair, and wearing an ancient priestess garb. Then, she was gone too.

"Hello?"

Kagome took another step closer but saw no more sign of either of the two figures. "Hello?" she said," You shouldn't be out during a lightning storm."

There was no answer, but Kagome now stood at the grave the boy had been standing before. She took a few more steps.

It was a double headstone. KIKYOU was inscribed on one side.

LOVING SISTER

LONG WILL BE REMEMBERED

LONG WILL BE MISSED

HER SISTER GRIEVES STILL

FEBUARY 15, 1485- MAY 10, 1503

'Five hundred years ago today', she thought,' What an odd coincidence.' She did the math in her head. That made her only about 3 years older than she was.

The other side had the name INUYASHA. There was one date, three days later than the other:

MAY 13, 1503.

HE DIED FOR THE LOVE OF HER

'How sad', Kagome thought.

Another flash of lightning filled the sky, followed by a crack of thunder. She was brought back to her senses. 'I've got to get home', she thought.

She took a few steps from the gravestone but stopped and looked back. She gazed at it for a while before turning around and walking down the road, leading out of the cemetery. 'Kikyou or Inuyasha', Kagome thought,' I wonder who he was grieving for.'

The next day, Monday, Kagome was riding her bike home from school and decided to cut through the cemetery again.

'This was a good idea', she thought to herself, but then she rounded the corner and saw that someone had chopped off the heads of the tulips Mr. Nasaka had planted over Mrs. Nasaka's grave. In fact, on the entire row, flowers were strewn all over and some had their petals ripped out and thrown everywhere. When Kagome got off her bike and walked to the other side, she saw that someone had used a red felt-tip marker to ruin the fronts of the headstones. A few had nasty messages written on them, but a lot just pretty much had the name crossed out.

'Stupid jerks', Kagome thought. This was the kind of thing that made Kagome's blood boil. 'How can someone be so insensitive that they'll trash someone's headstone?' Angrily, Kagome took out the linen handkerchief she always tucked in the cuff of the blouse that was part of her school uniform. On her knees, she scrubbed at Mrs. Nasaka's headstone—which happened to be one of the one's that had just been scribbled on. The ink came of the smooth surface easily, but she had to scrape it out of the inscribed letters.

Finished, she sat back on the heels of her shoes. On the grave to the left, someone had covered the inscription of MOTHER with a very rude word. The grave was not one of the ones Mr. Nasaka was responsible for, but it was very recent and was well taken care of. Now the vase with the fresh flowers was overturned. Kagome could just picture this poor woman's husband and children coming with some new flowers this weekend and finding the insensitivity that had been inflicted upon it. She sighed and began scrubbing at the word.

Two and a half hours later, she'd cleaned all the gravestones that had been trashed. Her knees were mud-stained, her hands and the sleeves of her blouse were stained with red, and her hands were completely sore. 'Sorry', she thought to the ones, she had been too sore to clean.

The scent of crushed flowers and heated damp earth tickled her nose and hung heavily in the air. 'At least I feel better about my self', she thought. He looked up at the sky and saw that it was late in the afternoon. She groaned. Her mother was going to go crazy that she was late for dinner, plus she'd missed her chance to go by the library to research her science project which was due tomorrow.

She jammed what was left of the handkerchief back into her cuff, not sure if she was sad about the graves, guilty she made her mom worry, or angry she was going to fail her science project.

Somehow, despite all the times she had come here, she had missed the turn leading to the exit. She was pedaling past the old oak tree before she realized she was in the old section. Rather than turn around, she kept going. The road circled, anyways. Instead of going down the curve of road, leading back, Kagome turned down the road leading her farther into the cemetery. She slowed down; sure she must have passed it already. Then—just as she was about to give up—she spotted it. KIKYOU. INUYASHA.

She left her bike by the road.

'What am I doing here?', she asked herself. Surely, she didn't expect the strange, white haired, boy with the strange outfit and seemingly, dog ears on his head, to still be here.

She ran her fingers over the stone, weathered with age, tracing the letters. KIKYOU. INUYASHA. HE DIED FOR THE LOVE OF HER. Three days later. Had he died of a broken heart? It did seem kind of strange, but not impossible. What must she have been like for him to not be able to go on without her? Had he taken his own life? HE DIED FOR LOVE OF HER.

Without planning to, Kagome sat down next to the grave. 'What am I doing her?', she asked herself,' As soon as I catch my breath, I'll be on my way.'

But the next thing she knew, it was dark out, and Mr. Nasaka was shaking her shoulder.

"What?" she said," What is it?"

"'What is it?'", the man repeated," It's 9:15 at night, your mother's frantic, and half the neighborhood's looking for you. What are you doing?"

"I must've fallen asleep", she replied. But she was still sitting, and she knew her eyes had been wide open, though she couldn't remember what she'd been looking at.

The groundskeeper who'd opened the gate for Mr. Nasaka told Kagome to keep out of the cemetery from now on; her mom told her to keep out of the cemetery; the police told her to keep out of the cemetery.

But her science teacher made her stay after school because her report wasn't done, and she didn't want to worry her mom by being late again, so she took the shortcut, anyways.

'Everything's fine', she told herself, ignoring the pounding of her heart, and why were her hands slippery on the handlebars?

She rode past the old oak tree and into the old section, where the trees were tall and the graves seemed as if they had been scattered randomly. She was aware that she was breathing through her mouth but she still couldn't seem to get enough air. What was wrong with her?

She stopped pedaling, and the bike coasted to a stop. For several minutes she just sat there straddling her bike, staring straight ahead.

A woman and her dog jogged by, the dog's tags, jangling.

Kagome finally turned her head and faced the double headstone. KIKYOU. MAY 10, 1503. INUYASHA. MAY 13, 1503. HE DIED FOR THE LOVE OF HER. Kagome closed her eyes. HE DIED FOR THE LOVE OF HER.

She left the bike and approached the gravestone. 1485-1505. Kikyou had been 18 when she died. Of what? And how old had Inuyasha been? HE DIED FOR LOVE OF HER. 500 years ago today. Had they been engaged? Was that why they were buried together? If so, he was probably just a little bit older than Kikyou. Maybe about 19, since people back then married when they were in their teens.

Kagome had lived near the cemetery for years but she'd never thought about dying before or being dead…..…..Until now.

She put her hand on the stone and tried to imagine what Kikyou and Inuyasha had been like. It was they who had been here Sunday afternoon, she was sure of it. She had seen pictures of villages back then and the clear open fields. Women in kimonos and men wearing harois and hakamas. The white haired boy who she immediately assumed was Inuyasha had dog ears. There had been stories that there had been demons and half demons back in those times. Could Inuyasha have possibly been a demon or half demon? Kikyou had been wearing an ancient priestess outfit. Had it been possible she was one when she died? They must've really loved each other if a demon and a priestess were together. She could just imagine them sitting together, laughing together, so much love in their eyes. HE DIED FOR THE LOVE OF HER. Nobody loved Kagome that much. Nobody ever would.

"Kid?" the breeze seemed to whisper," Kid?" Then, more insistent, more human,"Are you alright?" Kagome opened her eyes and found that she had somehow ended up kneeling on the ground. She blinked in the bright sunlight. Birds were chirping. In the distance, at the farthest edge of hearing, someone was mowing a lawn. The woman jogger with the dog stood on the grass between her and the curb as though unsure how close she should come to her. She held on to the dog's collar to keep him from bounding over to her.

"I'm"—her voice sounded so husky and unused—"taking a shortcut home so I won't be late." She ran her tongue over her parched lips.

The jogger hesitated before nodding. "Oh." Her mouth twitched, possibly attempting to smile. She took a step towards the road.

Kagome pulled herself up by leaning on the gravestone.

The jogger tugged on the leash until she and her dog were both on the road. Kagome looked over her bicycle until they disappeared around the corner. Then she went and knelt by the grave again.

HE DIED FOR THE LOVE OF HER. Kagome didn't think she could bear the incredible sadness of it. That they had lived, loved, and died before she had even been born. Before her parents had been born. History had always seemed unreal to her, as though everything that had ever happened in the whole wide world had been leading up to her, to whatever moment she was experiencing. Now she felt unreal. Surely things had peaked here, in 1503, for Kikyou and Inuyasha. Surely she was extra, unneeded. Not smart. Not loved. Worthless. Nobody would grieve at her grave.

'We would', a voice whispered into her ear, a voice that was soft and gentle,' We have enough love left over for you. Come to us. Trust us.'

Kagome lay down on the grass and closed her eyes.

'We're the ones who care for you', another deeper yet almost just as gentle voice whispered,' Only we. No one else.'

But then a shadow fell across her, blocking out the sun, so that she shivered. "Hello, Kagome", a quiet voice said.

Kagome looked up and blinked several times to get the tears out of her eyes. Tears for herself. Tears for Kikyou and Inuyasha. They were waiting for her. They'd make everything better.

"Remember me? Kaedae?"

SHE DIED FOR THE LOVE OF HIM. Slowly the vision retreated; the voices retreated. That was all right. She'd be able to call them back. "Hello, Ms. Kaedae", Kagome said. This was Mr. Nasaka's partner in the gardening business. Or at least she had been. Kagome just vaguely remembered that Ms. Kaedae had retired last fall for health reasons. Why was she bothering Kagome now?

"How are you doing, Kagome?"

"Fine", Kagome replied, still lying flat on her back.

"I was wondering if you could give me a lift to the gatehouse."

Kagome would have thought Ms. Kaedae was too old for riding double on a bike, but apparently Ms. Kaedae didn't think so. Kagome was annoyed at the interruption, but she figured she could always come back.

"Hasn't your mother ever told you", Ms. Kaedae asked as she took hold of the edge of the seat behind Kagome," not to talk to strangers?"

"You're not a stranger, Ms. Kaedae."

"I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about those two: Kikyou and Inuyasha."

Kagome slammed hard on the brakes, jerking them both forewords.

"You should probably go home for the rest of the day", Ms. Kaedae said, ignoring the sudden stop, ignoring the expression on Kagome's face as Kagome turned to stare at her. "Tomorrow will be easier. You'll be out of danger then. Anniversaries are a powerful thing. As are thunderstorms. And hate."

"He died for the love of her", Kagome protested.

Ms. Kaedae shrugged. "Kikyou's sister wrote that. She never would believe anything bad about her. But Inuyasha knew. She would become drunk and at many a time almost killed him with her arrows. One day, Inuyasha went and ran her through with his own sword."

"That can't be true", Kagome protested.

Ms. Kaedae continues as though Kagome hadn't interrupted. "They had promised each other, once, at the beginning, to love each other forever, to the grave and beyond."

"But it says he died for love of her", Kagome insisted," I saw him." There; she'd said it out loud. "I saw his pained expression for her."

Ms. Kaedae shook her head. "I've seen him, too. He feels pained for himself, Kagome. He said he'd love her forever. She held him to that. She waited three days after she died, and then she came for him. They heard him cry out in the forest. They ran out there and found him. He had a bloodstain over his heart with a small hole as if he'd been shot with an arrow and then someone had twisted it in the wound. He didn't die for love of her. He died promising to love her.

"The dead can be very jealous, you know, some of them. They get lonely in their graves and come looking for company. They whisper lies in your ears. They feed on you own doubts and weaknesses until there's nothing left of you at all."

"That's an awful thought!"

"Some of them." Ms. Kaedae shrugged. "There are ghosts, and then there are ghosts. You know you're loved, don't you, Kagome? They couldn't fool you with those lies, could they?"

Kagome looked away in shame, thinking of her mom, thinking of her friends—of the uncountable ways they had shown their love for her over the years.

"Sunday was the hundredth anniversary of her death. Today is his. They'll have less hold on you tomorrow. Even less now, because now you know. They won't be able to manipulate your emotions anymore."

Kagome shuddered, remembering the tears that had stung her eyes, as though they'd occurred a long time ago, to somebody she no longer was.

"I'll get off here," Ms. Kaedae said," Go home." She patted Kagome's shoulder. "Rest."

Finally she got her mouth to work, but by then Ms. Kaedae had already come close to turning the corner. "Wait."

"Not all the dead are like that", Ms. Kaedae called back.

"But how do you know?..." Too late. She was already gone.

'Very strange', Kagome thought.

And thought it again the next week when she started to ask Mr. Nasaka about his old partner, Kaedae Tikachi and her peculiar view regarding jealous ghosts. Mr. Nasaka only shook his head and told her Kaedae had died last winter.

_A/N: There you have it! Remember, I do not own this story, completely! I've only modified Ms. Vivian Vande Velde's work! I also do not own the Inuyasha Characters!_

_Please tell me about any fanfics you have or would reccomend! I thirst for fanfics! _

_Plus, don't forget to read mine!_

_Please Review!_

_Ja ne!_


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